The L.A.T.E. Show ‘89

DEAR LASN:

I wish to take this opportunity to thank you for inviting me to the LATE Show and letting me speak at the Luncheon on Friday. It was a great opportunity for me to meet many landscape architects.

I commend you again for a well-thought-out schedule of events. Everyone I spoke with during Friday and Saturday, as well as the first part of this week in the office, said what a wonderful event this was for everyone who attended.

Many mentioned that although it is designed to be a tech show, the potential for consumers to come and learn is great.

Again, many thanks for organizing an excellent and well-respected program for Landscape Architects, Landscape Contractors and Landscape Maintenance workers. I credit you with helping to save our license and the Board.

Sincerely,
Jeanne Brode
Executive Officer
Board of Landscape Architects
Department of Consumer Affairs

DEAR LASN:

You are to be commended for featuring Alexander DeMoura King’s article on “Native Landscape Management” in the May 1989 edition of your publication. Contemporary landscape architects must put aside pretentious attitudes and prejudices to consider the ideas and practices of the true “stewards of the land.” Please provide additional information sources regarding Mr. King and the Rain Forest Alliance.

Sincerely,
Robert C. Preston, ASLA, AICP, CSI

Editor’s note: more information on Mr. King and the Alliance’s work, as well as other information regarding saving the rainforests of the world, can be obtained from the Rainforest Alliance, 295 Madison Avenue, Ste. 1804, New York, NY, 10017. An additional source is Green Action, an independent green publication dedicated to ecology, grassroots democracy, social responsibility and non-violence. The publication can be reached through PO Box 2044, Cottonwood, AZ, 86326.

DEAR LASN:

The Landscape Architect and Specifier News has been one of the few publications to educate its readers on the merits, differences and shortcomings of wood products, and our company, for one, appreciates your efforts.

Landscape professionals must be kept aware of the changes in the marketplace. One such change, environmental Awareness, has generated much press lately, especially for our company, which uses Teakwood in our products. Your readers are probably aware by now that very few producers of Teakwood furnishings use only environmentally sound plantation-grown Teakwood, Barlow Tyrie being one such source. However, it seems that there is a tendency by some to continually label Teakwood as deriving from tropical rainforests and lumping it in with those woods not grown and harvested on a strictly monitored rotation basis, as our timber is. This ongoing confusion with tropical rain forest wood is perpetuated through gross ignorance or by those who may gain by a down-turn in Teakwood’s popularity. There are many sources that will confirm the fact that Teak is NOT found in the world’s tropical rainforests. Perhaps the easiest way to prove it is to look up the definition of “rain forest” in the dictionary. It is defined as ”...marked by lofty, broadleaf evergreen trees forming a continuous canopy.” For those who were unaware, Teak trees are deciduous and do not grow under such conditions.

We ask only that landscape professionals and specifiers take careful and professional care in selecting the correct product from the right producer, so that every project can be at its finest.

Sincerely,
Charles W. Hessler
Vice President, Barlow Tyrie, Inc.

Editors note: For more on the availability and uses of hardwoods see the article in this issue on page 39.

DEAR LASN:

Your fine publication has another article we would like to include in the electronic bulletin board, anthology we are preparing for the Landscape Architect.

We would like your permission to carry “CADD Software for the Macintosh: A Summary” from your Volume 5, Number 5, 1989 issue in the research library now being assembled. This library will be accessible to all callers free of charge. Thank you for your cooperation.

Very truly yours,
Aquacadd Design Specialists

Editor’s note: For more information on Aguacadd’s electronic bulletin board data base for Landscape Architects, contact Aquacadd via phone at 415-5927552; via FAX at 415-592-1099; or via modem at 415592-8426.

Controversy

DEAR LASN:

I read with interest the article in your August issue, “The Hydro-Sprigging Revolution.” This process seems to be a step forward in seeding technology, so I was disappointed that it was written in such a biased manner concerning hydraulic mulches. Mr. Mellon, being an employee for Weyerhaeuser (manufacturers of Silva Fiber virgin wood mulch) would be neglecting his duty if he failed to promote his product, but misinformation should not be a part of that.

First, as in everything, quality of paper mulches vary (as in virgin wood). However, high quality paper mulches have been tested by independent researchers and found to be superior to the best virgin wood mulches in terms of seed germination and protection.

Third, secondary fiber mulches have proven to offer higher water-holding capacity than virgin wood mulches. Also, paper mulch does not promote “wicking,” which is, of course, a problem long associated with virgin wood.

People, even experts, may disagree on the best product to use and I have no problem with Mr. Mellon promoting his product, seeing that he wrote the article. But I would appreciate it if, in the future, he would stick to a fair journalistic trait of stating only the facts. Nevertheless, he has written a good article that is good for the industry and for this, I do commend him.

Sincerely,
Craig R. Dumont
Director of Marketing Applegate Mulch

Editor’s note: LASN is proud to provide a forum to discuss controversial matters. The following is Mr. Mellon’s reply to the above letter.

Mr. Dumont:

We met and discussed this matter at the LATE Show in Irvine, California on August 25-26, so I am surprised that you still chose to debate the issue in the Letters To The Editor section of LASN.

Here is my response to your charge of bias, misinformation and a lack of factual information in my recent article on Hydro-sprigging:

You will note that nowhere in my article do I mention brand names for my product category, “virgin wood fiber mulch,” nor yours, “paper mulch.” You attended my presentation during the IECA portion of the LATE Show, which simply promoted the technique of hydraulic planting in the hopes that more of it will be specified, meaning that we will both sell more of our products. I know how to play fairly. The large by-line on the article and the short biographical sketch at the end of the article were added at LASN’s editorial discretion and were no doubt there to add credibility to the article as well as this editorial reply.

As for your charge of misinformation, the article is based on many years of experience with contractors who make their living hydro-sprigging. It is they who have tried various paper products without success. It is contractors like Mr. Willis, Mr. Santoro and Mr. Harada whose reputations are spread out over what is supposed to someday be a golf course, and it is they who now use only virgin wood fiber to get the intended results consistently. I reported their experience on behalf of my product category, not my product. When I asked you at the LATE Show if you could report similar circumstances and high quality results with your product category, you said that you could not.

You made three points that I can’t let go unanswered. Actually, there are six topics you touched on, and yet you complain about misinformation and “getting in a plug” for your product! I must respond briefly to each point.

Quality Varies. Nationwide, you’ll find more consistency and less variance between virgin wood fiber brands than paper mulch brands. Most paper mulch is manufactured as a sideline product by blown-in attic insulation manufacturers. Too often, the same equipment that soaks the paper in fire retardant toxic chemicals, such as boron, and dries it for bagging is “cleaned up” and used to make paper mulch. Virgin wood fiber mulch products are steam sterilized, never exposed to the insulation treatment environment and don’t contain any of the heavy metals found in printer’s ink, nor are they contaminated with bits of plastic, metal or other debris any time during the process.

Test Results: I’m anxious to view your test results, as I am unaware of any such data. I understand that, instead of enhancing growth, some paper mulches contain an infinite number of clay particles that can actually inhibit seed germination. I do have notebooks full of studies, industry journals and case histories favoring virgin wood fiber mulches for growing plants and controlling erosion. Please send me copies of your data!

Fungus: You are suggesting that harmful fungus comes in the mulch fiber, which is untrue, and that it does not “mysteriously” appear. I’m sorry to disappoint you but the kind of soil- and air-borne fungi I wrote about do seem to mysteriously appear and can destroy a new planting in a very few days. Pythium, Fusarium, Take-all Patch and a host of others are in the soil and can multiply rapidly when moisture, light, temperature and aeration conditions are right and the fungus is present. A thick application of a paper mulch product in a high-heat, high-irrigation situation such as a golf course can provide a near-perfect environment for fungal growth. Virgin wood fiber mulches form a more open matrix and exhibit a better wet/dry cycle characteristics due to their long fiber length and are not as likely to foster fungal growth. That’s just one more reason these contractors use virgin wood fiber mulches instead of paper mulches.

Wet Mulches: I’ve got to agree with you here, in that wet mulch, like any other product out of spec, is a problem. I am aware of a paper mulch product recently rumored to be tested at moisture content of 30% or more, in effect providing only 35 pounds of actual mulch in a 50-pound bag! The virgin wood fiber mulch category of products consistently tests at 10-12% moisture, well within published specifications, not at the 18-20% rate you jsuggested.

Higher Water Holding and Wicking: I count high water holding capacity as a liability. Virgin wood fibers hold water, but more importantly, they insulate the soil, which is where we want the water. In the case of hydro-sprigging, the wood fiber holds the stolon in place and shields the adjacent ground from drying sun and wind, as well as the impact of irrigation and raindrops, until the stolon can root in the soil. It has been my experience that paper mulch products offer little resistance to water-caused erosion and, during dry periods, can be detrimental to the rooting stolon by exceeding the soil and stolon’s own water-holding capacities, and also can rob the stolon of water. Heavy paper mache-type applications can dry out, shrink and crack into “prairie patties” of hardened paper, from which a stolon or seedling must struggle to emerge. Contractors that I know find that the sturdy, breathable mat created by virgin wood fiber mulch is more conducive to plant growth, controls erosion and results in a better job for the customer. That’s why they use it.

It is both of our jobs to promote our products and whenever possible, our own brand names. I had ample opportunity to be brand specific in my article and did not do so. Look how much product plugging you have done just in your brief Letter To The Editor! I regularly promote the generic “hydraulic planting technique” at industry conferences without mentioning a company or brand name at all. If they want to know who I work for, it’s on my name tag. When I need to “plug” my product, I buy advertising space.

Lastly, you asked me to stick to the facts. My article is full of facts, rates, coverage, costs, hints and tips that the experienced specifier, contractor or developer reading this fine publication finds valuable. Some of the text you feel maligns your product category is surrounded by quotation marks, a literary technique used to indicate that the enclosed opinion was stated by the person whose name immediately precedes or follows the quote. They have nothing to gain by recommending one product category over another. I reported what I know for a fact works in this specific application, and that is virgin wood fiber mulch. Can you I deny the existence of these beautiful hydrosprigged golf courses?

For the reader who has followed this skirmish, I think it’s more important now than ever to draw a clear distinction, in your own mind and in your specifications, between the “virgin wood fiber” category of mulches and the “paper mulch, wood cellulose” category of products ostensibly designed for the same purpose, such as is the case with Schedule 125 and Schedule 40 pipe. Specify clearly which product category is to be used to avoid confusion and jobsite substitutions. When in doubt, ask a knowledgeable, reputable, licensed contractor who does it for a living. A poor job harms us all.

Sincerely,
Michael Mellon
Weyerhauser Engineered Fiber

The Landscape Architect and Specifier News welcomes its readers comments, views and opinions. All letters to LASNs hould be addressed to: Letters Dept., LASN, S~F Communications, 2138 S. Wright St., Santa Ana, CA 92705